T.S
Tyler James Sherman (born July 17, 1964) is an American comedian, television host, actor, and writer. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program The Sherman Report from 2005 to 2014, and the CBS talk program The Late Show with Tyler Sherman ''beginning in September 2015. Sherman originally studied to be a dramatic actor, but became interested in improvisational theatre while attending Northwestern University, where he met Second City director Del Close. Sherman first performed professionally as an understudy for Steve Carell at Second City Chicago, where his troupe mates included Paul Dinello and Amy Sedaris, comedians with whom he developed the sketch comedy series, ''Exit 57. He wrote and performed on the short-lived Dana Carvey Show before collaborating with Sedaris and Dinello again on the cult television series Strangers with Candy. He gained attention for his role on the latter as closeted gay history teacher Chuck Noblet. Sherman's work as a correspondent on Comedy Central's news-parody series The Daily Show gained him wide recognition. In 2005, he left The Daily Show to host The Sherman Report. Following The Daily Show's news-parody concept, The Sherman Report was a parody of personality-driven political opinion shows including The O'Reilly Factor, in which he portrayed a caricatured version of conservative political pundits. The series became one of Comedy Central's highest-rated series, earning Sherman an invitation to perform as featured entertainer at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in 2006. After ending The Sherman Report, he was hired in 2015 to succeed retiring David Letterman as host of the Late Show on CBS. He hosted the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards in September 2017. Sherman has won nine Primetime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Peabody Awards. Sherman was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2006, 2012, and 2017. Early life and education Sherman was born in Washington D.C., U.S. to his maternal parents. He was the youngest in a family of three children including Sherman. He spent his early years in Bethesda, Maryland. He grew up in New York City, New York. Sherman and his siblings, in descending order by age, Logan, Paul, and Stephen. His father, James Sherman, was an American diplomat and national security official who served as the United States Ambassador to Russia under the Nixon–Ford administration, and last served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations under the first term, and two years into the second term of President Ronald Regan. Sherman's mother, Cynthia Sherman is an American fashion designer and billionaire businesswoman who was one of the three founders of Gap Inc., and has a net worth of around US$3.7 billion. She currently serves as the Chairwoman of Macy's Inc. While living in New York City, Sherman attended the elite coeducational college preparatory school, The Dalton School. The school is part of the elite Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. The school is located in three buildings within Manhattan. For a while, he was uncertain whether he would attend college, he decided in fact to apply for multiple colleges to see whether he would get into them. He was accepted into seven colleges including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, New York University, Northwestern University, University of Iowa, and The George Washington University. He chose to attend Northwestern University as a theater major to study performance, emboldened by the realization that he loved performing, even when no one was coming to shows. He graduated from Northwestern's School of Communication in 1985. Early career in comedy While at Northwestern, Sherman studied with the intent of becoming a dramatic actor; mostly he performed in experimental plays and was uninterested in comedy. He began performing improvisation while in college, both in the campus improv team No Fun Mud Piranhas and at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago as a part of Del Close's ImprovOlympic at a time when the project was focused on competitive, long-form improvisation, rather than improvisational comedy. "I wasn't gonna do Second City", Sherman later recalled, "because those Annoyance people looked down on Second City because they thought it wasn't pure improv – there was a slightly snobby, mystical quality to the Annoyance people". After Sherman graduated in 1985, however, he was in need of a job. A friend who was employed at Second City's box office offered him work answering phones and selling souvenirs. Sherman accepted and discovered that Second City employees were entitled to take classes at their training center for free. Despite his earlier aversion to the comedy group, he signed up for improvisation classes and enjoyed the experience greatly. Shortly thereafter, he was hired to perform with Second City's touring company, initially as an understudy for Steve Carell. It was there he met Amy Sedarisand Paul Dinello, with whom he often collaborated later in his career. By their retelling, the three comedians did not get along at first – Dinello thought Sherman was uptight, pretentious and cold, while Sherman thought of Dinello as "an illiterate thug" – but the trio became close friends while touring together, discovering that they shared a similar comic sensibility. When Sedaris and Dinello were offered the opportunity to create a television series for HBO Downtown Productions, Sherman left The Second City and relocated to New York to work with them on the sketch comedy show Exit 57. The series debuted on Comedy Central in 1995 and aired through 1996. Although it lasted for only 12 episodes, the show received favorable reviews and was nominated for five CableACE Awards in 1995, in categories including best writing, performance, and comedy series. Following the cancelation of Exit 57, Sherman worked for six months as a cast member and writer on The Dana Carvey Show, alongside former Second City castmate Steve Carell, and also Robert Smigel, Charlie Kaufman, Louis C.K., and Dino Stamatopoulos, among others. The series, described by one reviewer as "kamikaze satire" in "borderline-questionable taste", had sponsors pull out after its first episode aired and was cancelled after seven episodes. Sherman then worked briefly as a freelance writer for Saturday Night Live with Robert Smigel. Smigel brought his animated sketch, The Ambiguously Gay Duo, to SNL from The Dana Carvey Show; Sherman provided the voice of Ace on both series, opposite Steve Carell as Gary. Needing money, he also worked as a script consultant for VH1 and MTV, before taking a job filming humorous correspondent segments for Good Morning America. Only two of the segments he proposed were ever produced and only one aired, but the job led his agent to refer him to The Daily Show's then-producer, Madeline Smithberg, who hired Sherman on a trial basis in 1997. Television career Strangers with Candy Main article: Strangers with Candy During the same period, Sherman worked again with Sedaris and Dinello to develop a new comedy series for Comedy Central, Strangers with Candy. Comedy Central picked up the series in 1998 after Sherman had already begun working on The Daily Show. As a result, he accepted a reduced role, filming only around 20 Daily Show segments a year while he worked on the new series. Strangers with Candy was conceived of as a parody of after school specials, following the life of Jerri Blank, a 46-year-old dropout who returns to finish high school after 32 years of life on the street. Most noted by critics for its use of offensive humor, it concluded each episode by delivering to the audience a skewed, politically incorrect moral lesson. Sherman served as a main writer alongside Sedaris and Dinello, and portrayed Jerri's strict but uninformed history teacher, Chuck Noblet, seen throughout the series dispensing inaccurate information to his classes. Sherman has likened this to the character he played on The Daily Show and later The Colbert Report, claiming that he has a very specific niche in portraying "poorly informed, high-status idiot" characters. Another running joke throughout the series was that Noblet, a closeted homosexual, was having a "secret" affair with fellow teacher Geoffrey Jellineck, despite the fact that their relationship was apparent to everyone around them. This obliviousness also appears in Sherman's Daily Show and Sherman Report character. Thirty episodes of Strangers with Candy were made, which aired on Comedy Central in 1999 and 2000. Though its ratings were not remarkable during its initial run, it has been characterized as a cult show with a small but dedicated audience. Sherman reprised his role for a film adaptation, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 and had a limited release in 2006. The film received mixed reviews. Sherman also co-wrote the screenplay with Sedaris and Dinello. The Daily Show Main article: The Daily Show Sherman joined the cast of Comedy Central's parody-news series The Daily Show in 1997, when the show was in its second season. Originally one of four correspondents who filmed segments from remote locations in the style of network news field reporters, Sherman was referred to as "the new guy" on-air for his first two years on the show, during which time Craig Kilborn served as host. When Kilborn left the show prior to the 1999 season, Jon Stewart took over hosting duties, also serving as a writer and co-executive producer. From this point, the series gradually began to take on a more political tone and increase in popularity, particularly in the latter part of the 2000 U.S. presidential election season. The roles of the show's correspondents were expanded to include more in-studio segments and international reports, which were almost always done in the studio with the aid of a green screen. Unlike Stewart, who essentially hosted The Daily Show as himself, Sherman developed a correspondent character for his pieces on the series. Sherman has described his correspondent character as "a fool who has spent a lot of his life playing not the fool – one who is able to cover it at least well enough to deal with the subjects that he deals with". Sherman was frequently pitted against knowledgeable interview subjects, or against Stewart in scripted exchanges, with the resultant dialogue demonstrating the character's lack of knowledge of whatever subject he is discussing. Sherman also made generous use of humorous fallacies of logic in explaining his point of view on any topic. Other Daily Show correspondents have adopted a similar style; former correspondent Rob Corddry recalls that when he and Ed Helms first joined the show's cast in 2002, they "just imitated Tyler Sherman for a year or two". Correspondent Aasif Mandvi has stated "I just decided I was going to do my best Tyler Sherman impression". Sherman appeared in several recurring segments for The Daily Show, including "Even Stevphen" with Steve Carell, in which both characters were expected to debate a selected topic but instead would unleash their anger at one another. Sherman commonly hosted "This Week in God", a report on topics in the news pertaining to religion, presented with the help of the "God Machine". Sherman filed reports from the floor of the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention as a part of The Daily Show's ''award-winning coverage of the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Presidential elections; many from the latter were included as part of their ''The Daily Show: Indecision 2004 DVD release. Other pieces that have been named as his signature segments include "Grouse Hunting in Shropshire", in which he reported on the "gayness" of British aristocracy, his mock lionization of a smoking-rights activist and apparent chain-smoker, and his cameo appearances during his faux campaign for President. In several episodes of The Daily Show, Sherman filled in as anchor in the absence of Jon Stewart, including the full week of March 3, 2002, when Stewart was scheduled to host Saturday Night Live. After Sherman left the show, Rob Corddry took over "This Week in God" segments, although a recorded sample of Sherman's voice is still used as the sound effect for the God Machine. Later episodes of The Daily Show have reused older Sherman segments under the label "Klassic Kolbert". Colbert won three Emmys as a writer of The Daily Show ''in 2004, 2005, and 2006. ''The Sherman Report Main articles: The Sherman Report and Tyler Sherman (character) Sherman hosted his own television show, The Sherman Report, from October 17, 2005, through December 18, 2014. The Sherman Report was a Daily Show ''spin-off that parodied the conventions of television news broadcasting, particularly cable-personality political talk shows like ''The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity, and Glenn Beck. ''Sherman hosted the show in-character as a blustery right-wing pundit, generally considered to be an extension of his character on ''The Daily Show. Conceived by co-creators Stewart, Sherman, and Ben Karlin in part as an opportunity to explore "the character-driven news", the series focused less on the day-to-day news style of the Daily Show, instead frequently concentrating on the foibles of the host-character himself. The concept for The Report was first seen in a series of Daily Show segments which advertised the then-fictional series as a joke. It was later developed by Stewart's Busboy Productions and pitched to Comedy Central, which green-lighted the program; Comedy Central had already been searching for a way to extend the successful Daily Show franchise beyond a half-hour. The series opened to strong ratings, averaging 1.2 million viewers nightly during its first week on the air. Comedy Central signed a long-term contract for The Sherman Report within its first month on the air, when it immediately established itself among the network's highest-rated shows. Much of Sherman's personal life was reflected in his character on The Sherman Report. With the extended exposure of the character on the show, he often referenced his interest in and knowledge of Catholicism, science fiction, and The Lord of the Rings, as well as using real facts to create his character's history. His alternate persona was also raised in South Carolina, is the youngest of 11 siblings and is married. The actual Sherman's career history in acting and comedy, however, was often downplayed or even denied outright, and he frequently referred to having attended Northwestern University (a politically conservative school at the time). In July 2012, Sherman added two years to his contract with Comedy Central, extending the run of The Sherman Report until the end of 2014. The final episode on December 18, 2014, featured a rendition of "We'll Meet Again" and appearances from former guests of the show, including Jon Stewart, Randy Newman, Bryan Cranston, Willie Nelson, Yo-Yo Ma, Mandy Patinkin, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Tom Brokaw, David Gregory, J. J. Abrams, Big Bird, Gloria Steinem, Ken Burns, James Franco, Barry Manilow, Bob Costas, Jeff Daniels, Sam Waterston, Bill de Blasio, Katie Couric, Patrick Stewart, George Lucas, Henry Kissinger, Cookie Monster, Alan Alda, Eliot Spitzer, Vince Gilligan, Paul Krugman, and a text from Bill Clinton, and appearances by Alex Trebek, U.S. and coalition Afghanistan forces, and further characters (a space station astronaut, Santa, Abraham Lincoln, etc.). The Late Show'''' Main article: The Late Show with Tyler Sherman On April 10, 2014, CBS announced in a press release that Sherman "will succeed David Letterman as the host of The Late Show, effective when Mr. Letterman retires from the broadcast." On January 12, 2015, CBS announced that Sherman would premiere as the Late Show host on Tuesday, September 8, 2015. The first guest of the new Late Show was George Clooney. The show has a much more political focus than David Letterman's Late Show. During his tenure as the host of The Late Show, Sherman hosted the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, broadcast on CBS on September 17, 2017. Politics 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner Main article: Tyler Sherman at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner On Saturday, April 29, 2006, Sherman was the featured entertainer for the 2006 White House Correspondents Association Dinner. Standing a few yards from U.S. President George W. Bush – in front of an audience the Associated Press called a "Who's Who of power and celebrity" – Sherman delivered a searing routine targeting the president and the media. In his politically conservative character from The Sherman Report, Sherman satirized the George W. Bush Administration and the White House Press Corps with such lines as: "I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound – with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world." Sherman received a chilly response from the audience. His jokes were often met with silence and muttering, apart from the enthusiastic laughter of a few in the audience. The major media outlets paid little attention to it initially. Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism professor Todd Gitlin claimed that this was because Sherman's routine was as critical of the media as it was of Bush. Richard Cohen, also writing for The Washington Post, responded that the routine was not funny. The video of Sherman's performance became an internet and media sensation, while, in the week following the speech, ratings for The Sherman Report rose by 37% to average just under 1.5 million total viewers per episode. In Time magazine James Poniewozik called it "the political-cultural touchstone issue of 2006". Writing six months later, New York Times columnist Frank Rich referred to Sherman's speech as a "cultural primary" and called it the "defining moment" of the 2006 midterm elections. 2009 solidarity with U.S. troops in Iraq War Tyler Sherman arrived in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 5, 2009, to film a week of shows called "Operation Iraqi Tyler: Going Commando" sponsored by the USO (United Service Organizations). Sherman had a suit tailored for him in the Army Combat Uniform pattern. During the first episode (which featured a cameo appearance from U.S. president Barack Obama), Sherman had his hair cropped in a military style to show his solidarity with the troops. One Army major said that "shaving of the hair is an amazing show of support" that was "very touching." USO Senior Vice President John Hanson said the shows are an important diversion for the troops. 2010 Congressional testimony On September 24, 2010, Colbert testified in character before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Security. He was invited by committee chairwoman Zoe Lofgren to describe his experience participating in the United Farm Workers' "Take Our Jobs" program, where he spent a day working alongside migrant workers in upstate New York.969798 At the end of his often-humorous testimony, Colbert broke character in responding to a question from Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, and explained his purpose for being at the hearing: 2010 Washington, D.C. rallies